Armor

Armor can be equipped and used to reduce damage taken and increase the survivability of your settlers.

All settlers can maintain, equip and use armor in their inventory regardless of their profession. This means that higher risk professions like Foragers or Wood Choppers can be given armor which can help them survive being unexpectedly attacked away from your settlement.

However the downside of armor is its mass. While giving a full set of heavy armor to your Infantry makes sense, a Wood Chopper with heavy armor and an Axe will have little room left for carrying wood back to stockpiles. Because of this it's better to equip settlers who have to carry a lot (e.g. Wood Choppers, Miners) with lighter armor.